Here is a list of the names of the victims. I thought I'd share this link to the list of names of those who lost their lives last week in this tragedy. It somehow is important to me that whenever someone's life is snuffed out, especially at such a young age, their names should be remembered. I have also posted them here, should the link disappear or be down or whatever.

Please, keep their families in your thoughts and prayers. It is awful enough to bury a child, but to have them stolen away from you in such a manner at a time when many are traditionally celebrating their various religious beliefs is just beyond awful.

20 Children:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Madeleine F. Hsu, 6

Catherine V. Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison N. Wyatt, 6

6 adults

Rachel Davino, 29

Dawn Hochsprung, 47, principal

Anne Marie Murphy, 52, special education teacher

Lauren Rousseau, 30, teacher

Mary Sherlach, 56, school psychologist

Victoria Soto, 27, first grade teacher

I leave you with a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Children

Come to me, O ye children!For I hear you at your play,And the questions that perplexed meHave vanished quite away.

Ye open the eastern windows,That look towards the sun,Where thoughts are singing swallowsAnd the brooks of morning run.

In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine,In your thoughts the brooklet's flow,But in mine is the wind of AutumnAnd the first fall of the snow.

Ah! what would the world be to usIf the children were no more?We should dread the desert behind usWorse than the dark before.

What the leaves are to the forest,With light and air for food,Ere their sweet and tender juicesHave been hardened into wood, --

That to the world are children;Through them it feels the glowOf a brighter and sunnier climateThan reaches the trunks below.

Come to me, O ye children!And whisper in my earWhat the birds and the winds are singingIn your sunny atmosphere.

For what are all our contrivings,And the wisdom of our books,When compared with your caresses,And the gladness of your looks?

Ye are better than all the balladsThat ever were sung or said;For ye are living poems,And all the rest are dead.

One final note. I don't want to see discussions on the politically charged topic of gun control. I don't want to see that type of thing on here because it will ultimately lead to a flame war as well as hurt / hard feelings. It also is totally unproductive as I've never seen either side in that debate give an inch on their position. All it does is polarize people and I think there has been quite enough polarization of people all over the world, so I don't want to see it here.